Archdemon (strategy)
|} This page contains detailed tips on how to fight the Archdemon. Preparation Archdemon Capabilities *The Archdemon is immune to the effects: Charm, Confusion, Fear, Knockdown, Slip, Stun. *The Archdemon has some very powerful attacks, including Massive Attacks from the side, Cleave from the front, and Sweep from the back. Further, it has a Spirit based breath attack, along with several other long range Spirit attacks such as Archdemon Corruption Blast (single target), Spirit Smite (bombards in area of effect), and Vortex (dark purple tornado). As it summons darkspawn reinforcements, it may use Darkspawn Detonation to make them explode on your allies. *The Archdemon is not classed as either a dragon or a darkspawn, therefore it is immune to the bonuses against dragons, e.g. Yusaris and bonuses against darkspawn, e.g. the Silverite Rune. Army Recommendation *Choosing the Dalish elves (who use ranged attacks) as the support army can be useful, because melee will suffer much more damage from its cleaves, and the area spells from the mages can interrupt your melee attacks as well. Party Members Recommendation *If you have Wynne or another healer, have them save their mana to restore your party's health and attack the Darkspawn hordes that will arrive later in the battle. *If Shale is in the party, turn on Crushing Blows and, by default, she will Slam as often as she can. Also, have Shale equipped with Small Nature Crystals to take advantage of the Archdemon's low resistance towards nature damage. *Have at least two ranged party members fire enchanted arrows. For instance, at high level Leliana is capable of doing 40+ damage per hit. Equipment Recommendation 'Defensive' The Archdemon deals Spirit damage, so stock up on those resistances where possible. Corruption is espescially effective on tanks as it maxes out Spirit resistance without any other gear. Note that elemental resistances are capped at 75% so bear this in mind when swapping armour pieces and potentially losing set bonuses. Here is a list of recommended upper tier equipment specifically to defend against spirit damage: 'Offensive' If you wish to take advantage of the Archdemon's weaker nature resistance, here is a list of upper tier items which deal or enhance nature damage: For mages it is recommended to use a staff which does physical damage, or secondarily, nature damage (as above), unless the current staff you have provides significant bonuses in other departments such as spellpower, stamina regeneration, etc. Recommended physical-damage, upper tier staves: Play Style Notes Spellcaster For heavy magic users, note that the Archdemon has enormous resistance against just about everything, so mages must maximise their Magic attribute in order to do at least some damage by brute force or through prolonged duration. Recommended spells that may work on the Archdemon: Force Field may also help you and your party members to get positioned by paralysing the archdemon for a short time. But the target will not be damagable while paralysed by this spell. Recommended spells that will cause continuous sustained damage: Very effective in combination with Affliction Hex Spells which will take advantage of the Archdemon's weaker resistance against nature damage: Melee For melee combatants, you may find it difficult to remain within striking distance of the Archdemon due to its ability to knock you back and its ability to fly to different locations. If you're a heavy melee user, it's recommended to try and attack from various sides at the same time, separating your combatants in order to avoid having all of them knocked down with a single blow. Use Shield Wall (with Shield Expertise) and Indomitable for your melee characters if available. This will prevent them from being knocked down. If you are a rogue who uses melee, stay behind the Archdemon as much as possible. Backstabbing will still work, and if you have Combat Movement, you can run circles around the Archdemon. Alternatively, you can let a warrior take the brunt of the Archdemon's attacks. Learning the Duelist talents can help with this fight, using Pinpoint Strike towards the end of the fight can grant the player some much needed critical hits. If the player is a Ranger, they can summon a beast to distract the Archdemon, but it will probably be killed, and summoning another takes a long time. Ranged Ranged combatants will find it easier to deal continuous damage to the Archdemon, whether it is on the main platform or across the fissure. The best type of arrows to use are Elf-Flight Arrows followed by Arrows of Filth. Acid Flasks can be thrown with little risk of friendly fire when it lands anywhere away from the central circle, especially across the fissure, and when later darkspawn keep the melee fighters occupied. Note that positioning archers and mages between objects forces the Archdemon to use ranged spells doing less damage. This is because the archdemon is too large to get between the objects and hit physically. Traps In the early battle, the Archdemon will take off from and periodically land on the central circle. Before the darkspawn reinforcements begin swarming, this leaves an opportunity to take off a large chunk of damage. Acid traps are the surest damage dealers, but the cooldown limits the number that can be left before the next landing. Acid grease traps also deal significant nature damage, but fighters can be caught in the residue when rushing the dragon on the ground. Fire Traps are also helpful. Large Shrapnel Traps are less effective, but less risky than Acid Grease. Freeze, Shock and Soulrot traps are much weaker, but the damage can add up if there's time enough to place them. If you are a Mage with glyphs, take advantage of the Glyph of Paralysis and the Glyph of Repulsion that, when combined, will explode (and unlock the Paralysis Explosion Codex) and halt the Archdemon in its place. Placing glyph spells strategically will also help you to avoid incoming darkspawn. Engagement Early Phase The Archdemon flies from place to place on the main platform. It is easily attacked but will use various knockbacks, wing buffets, grabs and other attacks, making it difficult for melee fighters to engage it, making it a good idea to for your warriors to use a bow if they have any bow skills or not. You will be joined (PC only) by Arl Eamon, First Enchanter Irving or Knight-Commander Greagoir (depending on choices made during Broken Circle), Zathrian or Swiftrunner (depending on choices made during Nature of the Beast), and/or Kardol (if you persuaded him to join your armies), who can help you with the Archdemon. If any of your mages can spare some healing spells, use it on them, as they are all valuable allies. If your party is having trouble defeating the Archdemon, call an army (if applicable, the golems are a great choice) to distract the dragon while retreating to the ballistae on the towers. These siege weapons auto-target the Archdemon and, if it is within range, fire bolts that do between 40 and 120 damage. When hit with a ballista bolt, the Archdemon will roar in pain, interrupting its attacks and giving the ballista enough time to reload. Though significantly less exciting, this is an efficient way to chip its health away without actually fighting it. On any difficulty though, the ballistae will jam and require a Rogue to fix them, the Archdemon may jump onto a tower, and the ballista may jam indefinitely. One effective strategy with the ballistae is to take control of a Rogue, while sending the rest of your team after the Archdemon itself. While you effectively stop the Archdemon from attacking your party you can quickly turn to the second and third phase of the battle. Note: having an army to back up your attackers works well, preferably elven to draw larger attacks, like the vortex away from the party, or golems which will last the longest in battle. Middle Phase In this phase, the Archdemon will jump to an isolated platform; melee fighters will not be able to reach it due to a fissure in the roof. At this point, darkspawn reinforcements will pour into the roof to assist the Archdemon (as before, the Alphas, Emissaries, and Shrieks have normal health, while the Grunts are still generally one hit kills). The Archdemon will simply sit and fire Spirit attacks at its enemies during this phase, so feel free to throw area of effect spells at it or use either of the two ballistae in range. If you choose to camp near the ballistae, be sure to have a strong army to keep both the Archdemon and its Horde busy, as either may attack you here. If you have ranged combatants active (i.e. Dalish Elves or Mages) on the field, make sure to engage the Horde yourself, as these units are better left to shoot across the fissure at the Archdemon; similarly, if you have melee combatants (i.e. Dwarves, Soldiers, Golems, Werewolves, or Templars active), they can attack the Darkspawn (either with you or for you). To avoid becoming overwhelmed by the vast number of Darkspawn, you should use area of effect abilities - almost all of the battle will take place in a small pocket, directly in front of the Archdemon, as it is a common spawning place for both sides. You may also want to crowd your offensive forces on a spawn door to stop Alphas from getting too far into the fray. Shrieks usually run out too fast and Grunts aren't always worth attacking, while Alphas usually activate a buff once they arrive, so use that time to engage them. Alternatively, if you wish to take on the Archdemon by yourself using bow/staff/ballistae, and you have 2 melee characters with you, then you can send each of them to the spawning points, they can keep the horde busy while you chip down the Archdemon's health. At this point it may prove difficult keeping your allies alive. Arl Eamon (as do other allied melee fighters) usually insists on moving close to the spawning points effectively creating a double front to administer. Do not worry about losing any of them in this battle however. They will not die permanently if slain. Your main focus is the Archdemon. *Note: In order to get the Archdemon to return to melee range, all the darkspawn must be defeated. So if you want to defeat the Archdemon at close range, focus on defeating the darkspawn. Late phase This phase begins when the Archdemon is approximately at 15-20% health but can actually be avoided if the Archdemon is killed quickly enough - it has nothing to do with its health, but rather how fast you can deal damage. Now, casting Spell Combinations will let you deal more damage and kill the Archdemon faster. The Archdemon flies to the upper part of the main platform, while Darkspawn continue to spawn from the doors at an increased rate. The Archdemon will continue to attack anything within range, while many of the Darkspawn will switch to ranged weapons. There are two ballistae in range of the Archdemon: one that was used in the middle phase and one on the opposite side of the Archdemon from the other. Use them until they jam as they can do up to 115 damage per shot. Any of your melee combatants (i.e. Dwarves, Templars, Soldiers, Golems, or Werewolves) can distract any enemies while you use the ballistae, while any of your ranged combatants (i.e. Elves or Mages) can support you as you attack the Archdemon yourself. Keep an eye on the party in case their tactics allow changing target - the tanks should concentrate all their efforts on the Archdemon. Any rogues should engage other darkspawn to keep them off the tanks whenever they aren't needed to unjam ballistae. The final stage is the hardest to keep track of since you may be firing and repairing ballistae, healing, and making sure your tanks don't forget what they're supposed to be attacking. As a final aesthetic note, it is perhaps worth having a melee combatant make the killing blow, as the Archdemon has a unique deathblow animation should you kill it this way. Tips on how to save armies for the final battle: 1. If you don't really have to, don't rush into the battle headfirst, but rather lure out small groups or singles. 2. With at least one party member with survival skill upped, you should be able to determine type of enemy, level and such info; use this to your advantage by killing the grunts with ranged member, or mage, thus eliminating the weak. 3. Always try to kill the hordes of weak first, then try to lure the strongest one by one if possible, it is slow, but efficient. 4. Once your mage has Petrify, it can be a deadly combo with Critical Strike, Slam, Killing Blow and such abilities, as it is possible to shatter the enemy to pieces. It is possible and very handy if you manage to save ALL armies you gathered for the final confrontation with the Archdemon; especially with close-quarters warriors like men or dwarves, it is possible to keep him busy for a nice portion of time. Probably most useful abilities of Shale in this battle are those from Stoneheart and Rock Mastery tiers. Pulverizing Blows are good, but unless you want to get your golem killed quickly, the other two are better. Stoneheart grants additional sturdiness and regeneration, while Rock Mastery allows Shale to make some damage from distance. (tested on party with a two-handed offensive tank, shield/weapon defensive tank, Shale/tank and Wynne/mage; used only men and dwarves in the final battle) Bugs *Possible Bug: After battling with the Archdemon for awhile, it will summon several darkspawn minions to attack you. After defeating them, the Archdemon stays in place for a time and you can use one of the ballistae to constantly fire on the Archdemon. However, it does not move thus making the battle much easier. *There is also a helpful bug where the likes of Arl Eamon and Zathrian will not join you but the darkspawn minions will not spawn. *Also: during the Early Phase of the battle accidentally talking to Wynne can bring back dead members of the party. Occurred on PS3 while trying to operate one of the ballistas; after the initiated conversation two dead members had respawned next to us. Category:Strategies